You can get this in other animals, but we of course had to have a sheep for my little Shepherd! It plays 4 different sounds, heartbeat, rain, ocean and whale (we avoid that last one...scuuurry).

I am trying to get Shepherd to associate the heartbeat sound with nap time, so I always play that one when he is sleeping/I want him to sleep. When it is play time we listen to the ocean! A little Pavlov for ya.

Now, I am obsessive and crazy so let me share this. Before Shepherd was born, we received a ton of different pacifiers as gifts, so we opened all of them and put them in an apothecary jar in the nursery for decoration. When Shepherd got here, we tried all of the pacifiers, and there was only one he liked. Well we only had one, but I thought whatever, its fine, one is all we need. Well we guarded that thing with our life so as not to lose it. One day my parents were in town and my Dad had Shepherd and the paci dropped on the floor. My dad bent down to pick it up, and when he did the hook part broke off. My dad didn't realize how important this paci was, or we would have had some mourning time. Like slow motion, I see my dad say well we don't want to use this anymore and toss it into the trash.

Now don't ask me how, but I have a memory like an elephant and somehow remembered who bought us that particular paci. I called her up and asked if she remembered where she got it. It was a specialty store and when I went there of course I couldn't find the paci. I then proceeded over the next few days to call...and maybe text pictures to the staff...of this paci trying to find someone who recognized it so I could get an idea where to find it elsewhere. I made a saleswoman tell me the name of every brand they carried so I could obsessively google them. Ugh, could not find that darn pacifier anywhere!! Soothies were just not cutting it! So I went to Babies R Us (again) and compared all of the pacifiers to a picture of Shepherd holding the original. The Latex Nuks are what I came up with! So there ya go, thanks for listening to my long boring story about pacifiers haha! And if anyone recognizes this, please purchase a few for me and I will pay you back!

This little toy only cost $2.99 and Shepherd LOVES it. We hang it from the car seat handle, put it in his lap, he plays with it in the crib...I think he likes the bright colors and the links each feel different. He also likes to chew on it.

This little bouncer seat is where Shepherd sleeps every night. I don't know what I would have done without this thing. The first few nights after we brought Shepherd home, I was too emotional to think about putting his tiny little self in that big ol crib! Not to mention, he cried every single time I tried to put him to sleep in it. One of my friends told me that her baby would sleep in this thing, and it was a magical moment when I remembered we already had this seat but had forgotten to put it together. So that night Shepherd slept in the Snug a Bunny and he has slept there every night since. Now I have mixed emotions about this because I wholeheartedly believe in research and safety and the advice of studies and doctors, and the AAP does not recommend routine sleep in something like this. However, the AAP does recommend infants to sleep in the same room (not the same bed, but in the room) with his parents, so it was either in the crib in the nursery, or in the room but in the snug a bunny and I feel better having him in the room with us.

One night I was trying to get Shepherd to sleep and he was not having it. As I was rocking him I downloaded this white noise app on my phone and it lulled him right to sleep. I don't use this every night, just when he is having a hard time falling asleep. He likes the fan noise, but it also has sounds like the ocean, wind chimes, rain, thunderstorm, and a few others. (Isn't it cool that we have the ability to just download pretty much anything we need in seconds?)

Shepherd wears footed p.j.'s to bed every night, and I think Walmart has some really cute ones! He outgrows clothes so quickly that I don't want to spend a ton of money on something he is just going to sleep in for awhile. I couldn't find it online, but in the store one sleeper is usually $5.50.

Sometimes when we wait for Daddy to get home, we find a nice big blanket and lay down to stare up at the trees.

Its kind of the most fun you can have.

At least until Daddy gets home!

Reminds me of Taylor Swift, Never Grow Up lyrics:

"Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home."

I always cry at that part because I remember exactly what it sounded like when my dad got home from work. It was always right around 4 and I remember exactly the way his truck sounded coming in the driveway. And now I know exactly what it sounds like when my husband gets home, his breaks make a certain sound and then he always gets the mail. Soon, Shepherd will be old enough to associate those sounds with the best part of the day =)

Recently we went to my hometown for the weekend. There was an art show going on and they had just opened up the new downtown area that had been completely redone. But our favorite part of the day was that the city had shut down traffic on the bridge and we got to walk across from Kentucky to Indiana and back again.

Later she remembered all the hours of the afternoon as happy--one of those uneventful times that seem at the moment only a link between past and future pleasure, but turn out to have been the pleasure itself.